QALQILIYA Fact Sheet February 2020 Settlement Expansion About JLAC The city of Qalqiliya in the north west of the West Bank is near completely enclaved The Jerusalem Legal Aid and by the Annexation Wall (with limited accesses into the city from the East) towards Human Rights Center (JLAC) is facilitating the annexation of large expands of Palestinian lands within the Armistice mandated with providing pro- Line (“Green Line”) for adjacent settlement blocs (i.e. Nirit to the south, Alfei bono legal aid and consultation Menashe (industrial area) to the south east, and Tzofim (Quarry) to the north east), with Israel along the city’s entire western border. The Annexation Wall cuts through in the defense of human rights, the Qalqiliya governorate land in wrapping around the said settlements within the both in East Jerusalem and the “green line” and dives even further in to connect settlement blocs to the east (i.e. remainder of the West Bank. Ma’ale Shomron, Karnei Shommron, Ramat Gilad, Alnoei Shilo, Elmatan, Yair Farm, JLAC has coupled its legal aid Yakir, Nofim, Kedumin and Kedumin Industrial Zone) with each other and with Israel. with public interest cases, legal In effect, settlements and associated walls and bypass roads in the area have served reform, community awareness, to bisect the governorate and usher in a host of human rights violations in facilitating this end. and advocacy. South-West Villages The villages in the south west of the Qalqiliya governorate, are particularly made vulnerable by settlement expansion in the south (i.e. settlements of Ornit, Sha’arei Tikva, Magen Dan, Elkana, Etz Ephraim) which have nearly enclaved the village of Azzun Atma (population of 2,000+ persons, 357 dunums classified as B, and 9,077 dunums classified as C) and annexed much of its lands and the lands of adjacent villages (i.e. Izbat Jal’ud (population of 1,400+ persons, 1,105 dunums classified as B, and 7,498 dunums classified as C), Beit Amin (population of 1,200+ persons, 457 dunums classified as B, and 1,109 dunums classified as C), and Sanniriya (population of 3,500+ persons, 768 dunums classified as B, and 2,785 dunums clas- sified as C) for the settlements, buffer areas, and network of bypass roads. The adjacent village of Az-Zawiya (technically falling within the Salfit governorate with a population of 5,900+ persons, 1,138 dunums classified as B, and 10,862 dunums classified as C ) is completely enclaved by the Annexation Wall (along with the villages of Rafat, Deir Ballut, and Umm al Hamam), towards ensuring the contiguity of settlements around the periphery of the group of villages (i.e. Pedu’el , Alei Za- hav, and Bruchin from the south, the Ariel, Barquan, and Kiryat Netafim cluster to the east, Etz Ephraim and Elkana to the north and Mazor Atiqa (quarry) to the west). The village contains a main gate into the walled-off farm land of the surrounding communities, open only certain hours of the day for entry by foot, compelling those able to acquire a permit to walk more than 4km in accessing their lands without needed equipment. Kafr Thulth Further north in the center of the Qalqiliya governorate, the village of Kafr Thulth is similarly plagued by surrounding settle- ments. Kafr Thulth (population of approximately 6,000 persons, 1,238 dunums classified as B, 10,292 dunums classified as C) is flanked by two large settlement blocks (i.e. Alfei Menashe and its industrial zone to the west and Ma’ale Shamron and the large extension of settlements to the west), with bypass roads and associated buffer zones and walls running through the town’s lands (and the lands of adjacent villages as Azzun and Isla). Within Kafr Thulth’s north-west territory, the small Bedouin community of Arab al Khwaleh has resided since their displacement from the Haifa area in 1948. The 120 member community reside on a 60 dunum stretch of privately owned land that has been leased out to them by the villagers for decades. The two communities have historically been interlinked (as connected by a small road dating back to the Ottoman period), with the Bedouin community heavily relying on the town for all its necessities as they lack basic infrastructure and services (i.e. lack of public facili- ties as schools, clinics, and mosques, paved roads, water network, electricity or internet). In 2015, the State of Israel began to construct a bypass road (bisecting the road connecting the two Palestinian communities ) to link the Ma’ale Shomron settlement with the Alfei Menashe settlement bloc (to the west and east of the communities, respectively). Aimed at facilitating the settlements’ continuity with each other and Israel at the expense of Palestinians', this measure was also en- forced by the Israeli military placing concrete blocks on the Palestinian road. In Contact Us affect, the Bedouin community of Arab al Khwaleh was left completely severed from Kafr Thulth and isolated behind the associated fencing to the extent that the Ramallah Office: community may only be accessed by foot or by animal back. Millennium Building, 3rd fl Kamal Nasser Street Ramallah- Palestine Tel.: +970 2 298 7981 JLAC’s Interventions Fax: +970 2 298 7982 Towards further stifling Palestinian expansion and development, Israel long coupled is illegal land annexation policies with restrictive zoning/ building regimes www.jlac.ps (and consequent demolition and forceable transfer); in violation of numerous inter- national instruments ratified by Israel reaffirming the right to adequate housing (i.e. UDHR, ICESCR, CERD, CEDAW, and CRC, among others). Consequently, JLAC has taken on 97 individual cases of house demolition in the communities of Kafr Thulth and other villages in the vicinity (i.e. Azzun Atma, Izbat Jal’ud, Beit Amin, Sanniriya, Azzun, Jayyus, and Az-Zawiya) over the years, in addition to public interest cases and various outreach efforts it has engaged the communities in towards enhancing their legal knowledge and preparedness. .